Newsprint Portrait Paintings

This piece depicts famous British actress and model Audrey Hepburn. Celebrating the icons from the Golden Era with expressive and bold colors by capturing these moments in history, his paintings serve as vehicles for bringing the American brand to the world. With the use of graphic compositions, glossy textures, and rich colors Mars provided the ultimate medium in which to explore his fascination stemming from the Golden Age of American popular culture and the icons of the 1950’s and 60’s. Mars hand-painted butterflies in the background with clippings from magazines dating back to this era and incorporates messages from those times throughout the artwork. Creating the perfect backdrop for his statement piece, Hepburn stands out exceptionally, as the Tiffany & Co. logo is draped across adding an extra character of definition. Mars then layers the entire painting in epoxy resin, so the thickness of the piece pops dramatically. Finishing off the edges of the wood panel with newspaper articles and advertisements from an array of vintage magazines collected over the years. This is a one-of-a-kind piece executed on wood panel and comes ready to be displayed with hanging wire on verso, signed by the artist lower right and on verso. Art measures 48 x 48 inches Robert Mars was born in 1969 and is a graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York. At a young age, between 7 and 8 years old, he was drawn to muscle cars, custom vans, superheroes, and other icons that were relevant as a child. This idea of icons has been an obsession within his life and has continued into his adult life and throughout his artistic career, but the imagery has been refined over time. With the use of graphic compositions, glossy textures, and rich colors Mars provided the ultimate medium in which to explore his fascination stemming from the Golden Age of American popular culture and the icons of the 1950’s and 60’s. Drawing inspiration from the near-mythical fame that surrounded celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Elvis Presley, and many others, before the instant and all-encompassing presence of the internet, Mars’ daring approach creates paintings with a nostalgic yet innovative vintage feel. Employing concepts rooted in abstract expressionism, Mars has expanded on his body of work in the last years to abstract compositions, finding a balance between chaos and control by precisely cutting the painted vintage newspaper into predetermined patterns with multicolored paint layers of loose and dynamic brushstrokes in order to bridge to the events of the past and anchoring each of his artwork in a particular time of history. Robert Mars taps into the feelings that emanate from his paintings which vacillate between memory and desire. The taste of nostalgia pulls the viewers towards the iconic stars and the consumerist historical subject material of Mars’ works. Mars’ sources are the very core of these dreams. Photographs of stars like Bruce Springsteen, logos of products like Coca-Cola and TIFFANY & CO., and vintage ephemera are layered beautifully with news stories of seminal events; from the death of JFK to the 1969 moonwalk. By capturing these moments in history, his paintings serve as vehicles for bringing the American brand to the world. Based on traditional quilt patterns from American history, the mix of handcraft, and the meditation of...

Robert Mars God Save the Queen (Elegance is the Word) 2016 Newspapers, magazines, Xerox transfer, and paint collage on wood panel with resin and var...

"Share the Love," by Amy Smith is an empowering image of a black woman. Smith photographs her models, then hand-cuts a stencil for each of her paintings. She lays down her collage, a...

Collage assemblage portrait of the famous 1960's actress Marlyn Monroe. The assemblage is a collection of cut outs from magazines. It is signed, dated, and titled by the artist. The ...

Sean Keith creates unique artworks inspired by street and pop art, using mixed media, acrylic paint and sealing his art with a smooth layer of resin, adding a glossy finish and depth...